Abbott unveils ‘cohesive, effective’ new cabinet

Prime Minister Tony Abbott described his new cabinet as “a team that builds on a cohesive, effective and united opposition. It’s important to have experience as you move from opposition to government.” Photo: Glenn Hunt

Joanna Heath and Phillip Coorey

Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott has confirmed there will be significant changes to his cabinet in government, elevating senator Mathias Cormann to the position of minister for finance and Andrew Robb to minister for trade.

On Monday Mr Abbott described his new cabinet as “a team that builds on a cohesive, effective and united opposition. It’s important to have experience as you move from opposition to government”.

Ian Macfarlane will add Industry to his resources duties. Industry had been held by Sophie Mirabella who is in grave danger of losing her seat.

The structure of cabinet has been streamlined under Mr Abbott, foregoing the “super-ministries” of the Rudd-Gillard era and taking related policy areas under one portfolio umbrella. Health minister Peter Dutton, for example, will take responsibility for mental health which will no longer have its own specific portfolio. Some responsibilities will be delegated to “assistant ministers”, a new Abbott government creation.

Mr Abbott said this was an attempt to avoid “title inflation” and did not mean specific policy areas would be overlooked.

“I want to get away from this idea that unless you have a minister with your specific interest in his or her specific title that there is going to be any lack of concern.”

In a series of promotions to the outer ministry, Jamie Briggs will take assistant minister for infrastructure, Fiona Nash assistant minister for health, Michaelia Cash assistant minister for immigration and Arthur Sinodinos assistant treasurer.

Barnaby Joyce, who has moved to the lower house, takes agriculture, replacing fellow National MP John Cobb.

Those relegated from the opposition frontbench are former shadow parliamentary secretaries Andrew Southcott, Don Randall, Teresa Gambaro and Ian McDonald.

Sad day for female representation

With former industry minister Sophie Mirabella ruling herself out of contention for the front bench, the Coalition is likely to have only one woman in cabinet.

Interim Labor leader Chris Bowen said it was “a sad day for the senior representation of women in politics”.

“The cabinet of Afghanistan now has more women in it than the cabinet of Australia,” Mr Bowen said.

Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott’s new ministry is more traditional in scope and description than its Labor predecessor.

Mr Abbott said “there are strong and capable women knocking on the door of the cabinet and there are strong and capable women knocking on the door of the ministry and two of the four new faces in the outer ministry are female.”

Senator McDonald described missing out on a position in the new cabinet to be announced by Mr Abbott on Monday as “one of the worst days of my life”.

In a media release, Queensland Senator McDonald, who is shadow parliamentary secretary for northern and remote Australia and served as forestry minister under the Howard government, said he received a phone call from Mr Abbott telling him “he has no room for me in the new ministry”.

“So many people have placed so much faith in me over the last three years, from the LNP members preselecting me overwhelmingly, to the people I have campaigned with and for, to all of those to whom I have made commitments on northern Australia, to my wife and staff – I feel I have let you all down.”

Mr Abbott hinted there would be changes in departmental secretaries, which he would announce later this week. It is widely rumoured that current Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson will lose his position, and that Health secretary Jane Halton will be moved, potentially into Prime Minister & Cabinet to replace the incumbent Ian Watt.

“Inevitably, yes, there will be a reorganisation of portfolios that will flow from this particular ministry and, as I said, the administrative arrangements order will be published after the swearing-in on Wednesday and some reorganisations inside the public service will obviously follow from that,” Mr Abbott said.

Race for seats in lower house

The announcement will come as several close races for seats in the lower house near their conclusion. Incumbent Labor MP Rob Mitchell’s lead over his Coalition rival Donna Petrovich in the Victorian seat of McEwen was shaved down to just 193 votes on Monday afternoon. In the Queensland seat of Fairfax, mining magnate Clive Palmer’s lead over LNP candidate Ted O’Brien had almost halved from Sunday to Monday, at 209 votes.

At last count, independent Cathy McGowan’s lead over the Liberal Party’s Sophie Mirabella in the Victorian seat of Indi had narrowed slightly to 449 votes.

Mr Bowen said the ballot for the next Labor leader would be held on Thursday, October 10.